It was August 1862, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee took his Army of Northern Virginia on a mission to destroy Union General John Pope's Army of Virginia. He tried to do so before McClellan returned from his failed attempt on Richmond and reinforced Pope in central and northern Virginia. Lee relied in great part on the performance of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Ultimately, Jackson earned much of his lofty reputation at the expense of Pope. STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY simulates that campaign of August 1862. It was the first game produced in the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War (GCACW) series and proved to be the forerunner of five games in all.

In the tournament, players enter three preliminary rounds. The four players with the best records in those three rounds proceed to a single-elimination playoff. Players will face off in the "Jackson's March" scenario in two of the three preliminary rounds. In the third, players will play the "Cedar Mountain" scenario. The victory conditions for that scenario have been modified to achieve better balance of play between the two sides, but otherwise the scenario is unchanged. For more information on the modified scenario as well as the GCACW series in general, check the web site at: http://www.smart.net/~waveland/gcacw.htm. For the four players who make it to the single-elimination playoff, the semi-final games will be "Jackson's March" and the finals will be a scenario upon which the players mutually agree. In the 1998 Avaloncon Tournament, Bruno Passacantando and Paul Nied reached the finals and agreed to play Jackson's March. Bruno bested Paul in a hard fought game.